General News You Want to Talk About - Fri Sep 22, 2017 2:13 am

So some news media are reporting that the vote by the Senate on the dangerous Graham-Cassidy bill may occur next week on Wednesday.  The Republicans are desperate to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by the end of September 30 (after September 30, the Republicans would need 60 votes; before September 30, Republicans would need only 51 votes)!  Their push to ram through this cruel Graham-Cassidy plan is purely political--to get a "win," regardless of how this bill will hurt their own constituents, regardless of how this bill will hurt real people.  Shame on them!  The Republican legislators in our Congress need to realize this bill will hurt real people, and will cost lives!


The list of health care groups which oppose this awful, destructive bill continues to grow!  How often do you have Insurance companies agreeing with doctors, hospitals and patients??!!  

ABC wrote:
Dcotors, insurance companies and patient groups slam Graham-Cassidy

September 21, 2017

Insurance companies, doctors, patients, hospitals and other patient-provider groups are rallying together against the Graham-Cassidy plan, saying it could result in millions losing access to affordable health care and coverage.


It’s not often you see these interest groups align, but the latest Republican repeal-and-replace effort has done just that.

. . . Groups opposed are concerned about loss of Medicaid coverage and how the law might affect people with pre-existing conditions. While people with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied coverage by law, states could allow insurers to charge higher premiums for people with pre-existing conditions.

Groups like the American Medical Association, which represents the nation’s doctors, and the American Health Insurance Programs, representing big insurers like Anthem and Humana, along with patient advocacy groups, including the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association have joined a growing list of organizations opposed to the Graham-Cassidy bill.

The AARP is asking members to call their lawmakers, saying it will harm the nation’s elderly. AARP released a study saying that Graham-Cassidy would mean big premium increases for older Americans, and would “decrease coverage and undermine preexisting condition protections.”


The American Medical Association said that the Graham-Cassidy bill violates the Hippocratic Oath taken by all doctors, “first do no harm.”


The National Association of Medicaid Directors released a statement saying that they’re “strong proponents of state innovation,” but they said that reforms need to be done with careful consideration and “not rushed through without proper deliberation.”


On Wednesday, insurance companies -- who remained quiet about the bill for weeks -- came out in opposition to Graham-Cassidy, saying they’re concerned about consumers losing coverage and paying more.

LETTER: AARP voices strong opposition to "irresponsible" #GrahamCassidy; stresses support for bipartisan approach https://t.co/orhYxjoGjy
— AARP Advocates (@AARPadvocates) September 19, 2017



To #Congress: Graham-Cassidy would result in millions losing coverage, destabilize insurance markets, decrease access to affordable care. pic.twitter.com/p0A1lJf4cx— AMA (@AmerMedicalAssn) September 19, 2017


Link to ABC article:  http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/doctors-insurance-companies-patient-groups-slam-graham-cassidy/story?id=50013058






The Medicaid directors of ALL 50 STATES are opposing this bill!  The news media is reporting how rare it is for ALL 50 Medicaid directors of all the states in the U.S. to agree on their opposition to particular bill!

The Week wrote:
State medicaid directors join the groups opposed to the GOP's Graham-Cassidy bill

September 22, 2017

On Thursday, the National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD), a group representing the Medicaid directors from all 50 states, joined other medical and patient advocacy groups in opposing the latest Senate Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, named after sponsors Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.).   The bill would scrap ObamaCare's subsidies for consumers and Medicaid expansion and redistribute that money as state grants, in what the NAMD board of directors calls "the largest intergovernmental transfer of financial risk from the federal government to the states in our country's history."


The Medicaid directors said they don't want that risk, especially without being consulted first, and they called a Congressional Budget Office score — which Graham-Cassidy won't have before voting — "the bare minimum required for beginning consideration." Setting up entire new health-care programs in 50 states requires an enormous amount of work and resources, NAMD said, and "the vast majority of states will not be able to do so within the two-year timeframe envisioned here, especially considering the apparent lack of federal funding in the bill to support these critical activities."


Andy Slavitt, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from 2015 until January and an opponent of repealing ObamaCare, said all 50 Medicaid directors coming out against Graham-Cassidy was "very unusual," and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Ct.), was similarly impressed:

Seriously. This is BANANAS.

You couldn't get ALL 50 state Medicaid directors to agree any anything else in health care policy. https://t.co/mKKwbSO1dw
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) September 22, 2017



The Senate plans to vote on the bill next week. You can read the NAMD's full statement here. Peter Weber

Link:  http://theweek.com/speedreads/726187/state-medicaid-directors-join-groups-opposed-gops-grahamcassidy-bill






New York Times wrote:
Latest Obamacare Repeal Effort is Most Far-Reaching

September 21, 2017

[The Graham-Cassidy bill] dismantles the Medicaid expansion and the system of subsidies to help people afford insurance. It gives the states the right to waive many of the consumer protections under President Obama’s landmark health law. And it removes the guaranteed safety net that has insured the country’s poorest citizens for more than half a century.

“This is by far the most radical of any of the Republican health care bills that have been debated this year,” said Larry Levitt, a senior vice president with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “And the reason for that is that this would be the biggest devolution of federal money and responsibility to the states for anything, ever.”

[. . . ]

Like previous Republican proposals, the bill would also cancel the federal government’s commitment to the open-ended funding of the traditional Medicaid program, capping an entitlement for the poor and disabled that now covers one in five Americans. States could choose to take some of that Medicaid money in a block grant too.

Winners and Losers

One of the most striking things about the bill is how it redistributes federal money among states. Some states that have invested a lot in expanding coverage under Obamacare (many of them Democratic) would lose big to others (mostly Republican) that have fiercely resisted going along with the law and are hostile to federal spending in general.

[. . . ]

Mississippi has one of the nation’s sickest populations and has historically resisted federal funding for social welfare programs. After the Affordable Care Act became law, Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican, rejected not only the chance to expand Medicaid but also his own state insurance commissioner’s attempt to create a state-based insurance marketplace with federal funds offered under the law.

[. . . ]

In Alabama, another winner under the Senate bill, Jim Carnes, policy director at Arise Citizens’ Policy Project, an advocacy group, described the bill as “a bait and switch” for the state.

“The early gains from the redistribution will take a nose-dive 10 years out and we will lose billions,” he said. “No state is a winner in the end.”

Remaking Medicaid

The bill would make the most sweeping changes to Medicaid since the program’s inception in 1965. It goes farther than previous Senate proposals, and a bill passed by the House in May, by eliminating the expansion of Medicaid set up by the Affordable Care Act, which has extended the program’s coverage to 11 million more lower-income people, and putting the money into block grants starting in 2020.

[. . . ]

In all, Medicaid now covers 74 million Americans, most of them poor but also middle class people with disabilities and in nursing homes. The federal government shares the cost of Medicaid with states, and has traditionally paid between 50 and 75 percent of the costs, with poor states receiving more money. The commitment was open-ended; the government covered its share no matter the cost, or how many people enrolled. The federal government picked up the entire cost of the Medicaid expansion at first, with that share ultimately tapering to 90 percent.

Like previous Republican proposals, Graham-Cassidy would cap traditional Medicaid spending on a per-person basis, based on a complex formula.

That provision worries many hospital systems. “These funding reductions are unsustainable for many Ohio hospitals,” said John Palmer, a spokesman for the Ohio Hospital Association, adding that nearly 20 percent of hospitals in the state already spend more than they take in.

It’s hard to overstate the potential effects. Medicaid now provides medical care to four out of 10 American children, and covers the costs of nearly half of all births in the United States, as well as care for two-thirds of people in nursing homes and also for 10 million children and adults with physical or mental disabilities.

“It would unleash massive health care debates in every state capital,” said Mr. Levitt, at Kaiser. “All these tough decisions would no longer be on Congress’ plate but on the plates of governors.”

Consumer Protections

The proposal is much more aggressive than some of the other Republican plans in rolling back the Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections, say health care lawyers and other experts who have studied the bill. It would allow states to stop requiring insurers to cover “essential” health care needs like hospitalization, prescription drugs, maternity care and mental health treatment.

. . .  Lawyers say the bill would allow states an almost unfettered ability to permit insurance companies to charge someone with, say, cancer or diabetes much higher rates — or to exclude certain expensive conditions like pregnancy or addiction from the plans they offer.

[. . . ]

Moreover, unlike previous proposals, the bill would pave the way for insurers to adjust their prices every time someone renewed a policy, based on the individual’s changing health status. People could sign up for a plan and see the price skyrocket if they developed a potentially serious condition like cancer, said Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at the Kaiser foundation.


Link to the New York Times article:  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/21/health/graham-cassidy-obamacare-repeal-.html






Of the various versions of the Republicans' repeal and replace bills, this is the worst version (with the repeal-only/no replacement-bill being the very worst)!  

PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS, ESPECIALLY IF THEY ARE REPUBLICAN, AND TELL THEM TO VOTE [size=16]NO ON THE GRAHAM-CASSIDY REPEAL-AND--REPLACE BILL!!   PLEASE DO NOT WAIT!  THE VOTE WILL BE NEXT WEEK, POTENTIALLY ON WEDNESDAY, AND DEFINITELY BEFORE SEPTEMBER 30!
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Here are some reasons why you want your Senator to vote NO on the Graham-Cassidy repeal and replace bill:




 - - It will cut Medicaid for seniors, people with disabilities, and kids -- and it will end Medicaid expansion coverage for millions of low-income Americans.

- - It will take health care away from millions of people.

- - It will get rid of requiring coverage for pre-existing conditions, and make it so expensive to get coverage for pre-existing conditions, that it would become unaffordable for millions of people.

- - It will raise individual market premiums

- - It will eliminate health funding for ACA marketplace insurance plans AND for Medicaid programs in 2027.

- - Insurers would no longer have to provide for “essential services” (such as Emergency services, Hospitalization, prescription drugs, pregnancy/maternity/newborn care, mental health and substance use disorder services, rehabilitative services and devices, laboratory services, preventative services, pediatric dental benefits, and birth control coverage)

- - Insurers can allow lifetime limits on benefits (something that will be devastating to premature babies, or babies like Jimmy Kimmel’s son who are born with serious health issues).

--[size=13] Insurers would be allowed to charge older people five times as much as younger people[/size]


- - It will slash funding for Planned Parenthood.

- - There will not be a full CBO analysis, due to the lack of time before the vote



For contact info of your Senators, go here:  https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm



You can find your House of Representative’s number  by calling the Capitol's switchboard at 202-224-3121.



You also may find your House of Representative's phone number by going here: 
https://www.house.gov/representatives/





Indivisible's Trumpcare Toolkit will connect you by phone, with some ('moderate") Republican Senators, whose votes are key.  Just open this link:   [size=13]https://trumpcaretoolkit.org/  
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If you live in these states (see below), it is especially important that you please call these Senators NOW and tell them to vote NO on the Graham-Cassidy repeal-and-replace healthcare bill!  

John McCain (Arizona(202) 224-2235

Jeff Flake (Arizona) 202-224-4521
[size=13][b]Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)  (202) 224-6665
Dan Sullivan (Alaska)  (202) 224-3004
[/b][/size]
[size=13]Susan Collins (Maine) (202) 224-2523
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[size=13]Shelly Moore Capito (WV) 202-224-6472
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Dean Heller (Nev.)  202-224-6244
Rob Portman (Ohio)  (202) 224-3353
Bill Cassidy (La.)  (202) 224-5824
John Kennedy (LA)  (202) 224-4623
Bob Corker (TN)  (202) 224-3344
Lamar Alexander (TN)  (202) 224-4944
Cory Gardner (CO)  (202) 224-5941
Richard Shelby (AL)  (202) 224-5744
Luther Stranger (AL)  (202) 224-4124
Pat Toomey (PA)  (202) 224-4254
Ron Johnson (WI)  (202) 224-5323
Jerry Moran (Kansas)  (202) 224-6521
Mike Rounds (SD)  (202) 224-5842
John Hoeven (SD)   (202) 224-2551
Joni Ernst (IA)  (202) 224-3254
Thom Tillis (NC)   (202) 224-6342
Tom Cotton (AR)  (202) 224-2353




This repeal-and-replace bill will affect millions.  It will affect low-income children and adults, those with disabilities and pre-existing conditions, and the elderly.  It will hit hard nursing homes and rural hospitals.  It will affect those on Medicaid, as well as those with private insurance.  It will raise premiums.  It will cause millions to lose their health insurance.  It will make it difficult to get affordable health care coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.  It may affect you and your family, your children, your elderly parents, your friends, your co-workers, and your neighbors. 


Please DO NOT WAIT (the vote will occur NEXT WEEK before September 30), and call your Republican Senator EVERY DAY until late on September 30.  Tell them you want them to vote NO on the Graham-Cassidy repeal and replace bill!!




The co-sponsor of the bill, Bill Cassidy accused Jimmy Kimmel of not understanding Cassidy's bill.  Here is Jimmy's response:







I've tried to study this bill, and it seems to me, that Jimmy Kimmel is on point in terms of his analysis of this bill. 



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